Selenium (Se) has the potential in the modulation of cognition in animal experiments and human studies, however, the exact mechanism still remains unclear. The purpose of this study aims to investigate neuroprotective effect of Se and its potential mechanism.
The authors hypothesized that selenoprotein expression and antioxidative ability of Se in neuronal cell lines are enhanced by L-serine, and the potential novel mechanism of Se on cognition might be associated with the regulation of de novo L-serine synthesis for selenoprotein synthesis. For the first time, the interaction of selenomethionine (SeMet) and L-serine was investigated by the evaluation of cell viability, selenoprotein expression and antioxidative ability in SH-SY5Y cells cultured in the specific culture medium (without L-serine and glycine).
Based on cell viability results, SeMet (0.001, 0.01 and 0.1 µM) and L-serine (0.01, 0.1, 1 and 5 µM) were used to treat SH-SY5Y cells for 48 h. L-serine upregulated the expression of four selenoproteins and an inverted U-shaped relationship existed between SeMet concentration and expression of four selenoproteins. SeMet decreased malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species contents, as well as increased superoxide dismutase activity and glutathione level.
Neuroprotective effect of SeMet in SH-SY5Y cells was enhanced by L-serine and its mechanism might involve the de novo L-serine synthesis for selenoprotein expression.
